sonicii

I think you are correct, if the manufacturer specs a fluid change at 100,000km it is highly unlikely the transmission will fail because you let to go to 106,000km. there is something else that has caused it.. component failure.. severe abuse by the previous owner.. etc.. The CVT in the maxima has no specific distance between fluid changes, but it is also not a blanket 'life of the vehicle' component either, there is a counter in the TCU that Nissan can read with their consult, once this reaches a certain figure, the fluid needs to be changed. but I have heard of several cases of Maxima owners with over 100,000km on the car and the counter is only about half way to the specified figure. But you can't really use the Maxima CVT as a comparison, the internals are very different to the V35 CVT, and it runs a different fluid.

yep.. Good advice.. Although my Wife drives our J31 Maxima with the CVT, and if I had to drive an auto, I would pick a CVT any day over a standard auto (ignoring potential repair costs), although I have to admit, I haven't driven a car with the new DSG transmission.

CVT fluid is very very different from manual transmission oil. If you put standard gear oil in a CVT you will kill it, if you put standard auto transmission fluid in a CVT, you will kill it. To make matters worse, the extroid CVT on the V35 requires its own unique CVT fluid, which I believe only Nissan can supply. so big $$. It is even different to the xtronic CVT fluid used in the Maxima/Murano. (mainly because the transmission internals are very different) There is a tin of it on ebay here . http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Nissan-Skyline-V35-350-GT-8-Transmission-oil-/220879380863?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item336d6fe17f which I think is a 4L tin.

will probably be more than just an ECU tweak. It is likely to include different intake, exhaust and cams. Imagine the price of a set of factory AMG V8 cams?...

samsung , yeah they make quite a reasonable product, up there near some of the high quality products these days. LG.. Nope.. Except perhaps when they rebadge someone else's product. Korean cars are certainly better than they were about 10 or so years ago, but still not to the extent that I would buy one, I am not sure I would be brave enough to say they could ever match the Japanese products.. Unless of course the Japanese quality takes a nose dive.

Your sig says '2003 Nissan Skyline'. What 2003 skyline isn't a V35 and runs a VQ25DET? Or do you have a Stagea too?

Isn't the stereo facia slightly shorter on the Navi unit? as the Navi screen cover is slightly larger than the pocket lid. At least that is what is claimed on G35driver. The head unit and facia I received from USA was from a Navi equiped car of the same MY and the stereo facia is definantly shorter than my non-navi unit.

And the really annoying part is it must be done by Nissan. Where as the same adjustment in the J31 Maxima can be done without Consult, using a series of switch presses and key turns. I am about to get a wheel alignment done on mine after replacing the compression rod bushings, hopefully I won't need to go to Nissan and pay them $35 to plug in a consult unit and press 'reset' in the right spot..

I would respectfully disagree, the VQ specifies much more than '6 cylinders', it is the series of engine, and I would argue that the VQ35 shares many similarities to the VQ40, VQ30, VQ25 and VQ20, in the same way the RB series of engines are all quite similar, there are a lot of relativly minor changes in the life of the VQ, turbo chargers, variable valve timing, direct injection, different bore/stroke/piston sizes (and therefore capacities), external changes to suit vehicle mounting positions, etc. Any major changes to the design of the engine would result in a different series name, for example, the VR engines used in the GT-R are based on the VQ, but due to the number of changes, they specified a new series. The same thing occured in the early 1990s with the VG engine, Nissan produced the VE engine for the USA J30 Maxima, it was essentially a VG block with a chain driven twin cam head specifically built to fit in the Maxima, but because the difference were significant, they re-labled it a VE. If the VQ35DE was an all new design/build, it would not carry the VQ series label.

no worries, probably worth noting the stereo facia is a different size between the navi and non-navi too.

thanks.. So Renault started using Nissan's VQ engine in 2002.

You mean one of these? http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Nissan-300GT-V35-Roof-Light-Sunglasses-Holder-/170719649875?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item27bfaf2053

If you can get them apart, and they are all the same size/shape, then it should be fine.

?? I don't really see the relavence? The 350Z/350GT motor 'could' have been built by anyone, but the fact Nissan and only Nissan were using the VQ long before their connection with Renault, and Renault only started using the VQ in the last 5 years or so, suggests the chances that Renault built/designed it, are fairly slim.

Traction control and VDC are 2 different things, although a lot of people confuse the 2 terms.

^^ I have heard that before too, but I can't really see how it can be true, Nissan stated using the VQ engine back in the mid 1990s, long before there was any collaboration with Renault. and Renault only stated using the VQ in their cars in the mid 2000s, and well after Nissan starting using the VQ35 in their cars. I think this is just a rumour that Jeremy Clarkson has spread..

To do it properly, you would need to replace the refelctor with one made for a RHD car, as the reflector is responsible for creating the light pattern. The only one I have heard of being modified was a projector type lamp. I don't know how they did it, but I assume there must have been an extra 'add on' piece in the reflector to create the 'kick up' pattern, and they just removed that. I don't think it would be possible to adjust the existing reflector on a standard headlight setup. Also, I doubt it would be possible to just adjust the headlights so they point lower and not blind oncoming drivings, as they would need to be so low that they would be next to useless, assuming the adjustments could even go far enough.

^ what he said. RHD headlight low beam light pattern kicks up on the left to light the left side of the road, if you aren't sure what I mean, park your car about 10m from a wall at night and turn on your headlights. LHD headlight light pattern kicks up on the right, if you fit them to a RHD car it will shine straight into the face of oncoming drivers. I have heard of some people modifying headlights to remove the 'kick up', so the light cutoff is just a straight line. But I have no idea if this is possible on these headlights.

Hmm.. I hope not!! If you think parts for the VQ are expensive.. you will be in for a nasty surprise with a MB engine!

Headlights designed for a Left Hand drive car will be illegal here because the light pattern is wrong, you will blind people in other cars driving toward you. For the same reason RHD headlights would be illegal in USA

Looks like those scratches are through the paint, so no amount of polishing or buffing will get them out, it will need a respray. It is hard to tell from the pics, but there appears to be some dints also, which will require panel beating. This cost will depend very much on your paint, as this is usually the biggest component on the final bill. It appears you have a darker colour, which will mean they should be able to just respray the one door. Some lighter colours (especially silver), sometimes require the whole side of the car to be resprayed to make it look right, as the finish of the base coat can make a panel appear darker or lighter.

I have Khumo KU19s on the rear of mine. I can't really compare them to anything except the front tyres, I bought them because they were $185 per tyre, plus fitting. which was cheaper than most of the 'no-name' brands. They have been good so far, but they have only done about 1000km, far too soon to give a good opinion. Unlike the tyres on the front, which are noisy!! I think they are the original Japan tyres (which I know shouldn't be used, but they where on it when I brought the car and it passed a roadworthy!), they are Yokohama dB euro. Either it's noisy tyres, or I have a bad wheel bearing, but the noise seems to go away over about 50km/h, which doesn't usually indicate a bearing!..

Mine has the cable on the back of the rear view mirror, but I don't have the intelligent key?? Could it also be used for the normal lock/unlock remote?

a 2-3 second delay is probably more the TCU delaying the shift rather than the transmission internals, if so, a shift kit won't fix it.

According to the G35 FSM, the speed signal for the stereo should be approx 55hz at 40km/h